Workshops/Speakers: Lawrence, Kansas

Carbon Farming With Biochar
Albert Bates - New Society Publishers
Build a gasifying stove and get a rich fertilizer for your garden that sequesters carbon from the atmosphere. Learn about organic no-till, mob grazing, compost teas and keyline management from the author of The Biochar Solution.

40 Years of The Farm
Albert Bates - New Society Publishers
In 1971, several hundred hippies founded The Farm. In its heyday, the community was home to more than 1,500 members. The Farm remains a vibrant, working environment for change. Why has it lasted so long? Discover the answers with author Albert Bates, as he tells the story of a special place that now sustains a fourth generation of residents on their mission of peace, love and rock 'n roll.

Agents of Change
Albert Bates - New Society Publishers; Bryan Welch - Ogden Publications; Lyle Estill - New Society Publishers
We all know that if we can change the stories, we can change the culture. Join Bryan Welch, Lyle Estill and Albert Bates as they discuss the financial, spiritual and personal impacts of being in a position to transform society.

Heritage Breeds Marketing 101
Alison Martin - American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
Marketing your products is key to succeeding with rare breeds. Discover the growing market potential for heritage breed food and fiber products, and some of the avenues you can pursue for market success.

Is a Heritage Beef Enterprise Right for You?
Alison Martin - American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
Find out if heritage cattle could be a fit for your farm enterprise. In this workshop you will learn the definition of "heritage," the basics of selecting a breed, why heritage breeds are so appealing in niche markets, and the planning process for deciding if heritage cattle are right for you and your farm.

Introduction to Heritage Breed Goats
Alison Martin - American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
Are you wondering what critters to add to your farm next? Maybe it's goats! Join us for an overview of heritage goat breeds and how to pick the right one for you.

All About Inputs
Amber Lippert - Organic Materials Review Institute
This workshop will teach you everything you need to know about inputs for organic production, including fertilizers, pest controls and livestock products. The presentation will include information for beginners and experts alike, and will include in-depth explanations of Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) listings and national organic standards.

Finding Good Farmland
Ann Larkin Hansen - Storey Publishing
Learn what to look for when you're looking for farmland: markets, soils, terrain, water supply and more. Plus, discover options for financing a farmland purchase or getting on to land even if you don't have a lot of cash.

Organic Farming Manual: Start here!
Ann Larkin Hansen - Storey Publishing
Decide what to raise: fit your farm enterprise to your acreage, soil type, water supply and markets. Assess what you'll need for equipment, supplies, livestock and cash. Learn the basics of the organic rule, decide whether or not to certify, and find out how to get organically certified.

Save the Forest: Manage your woods
Ann Larkin Hansen - Storey Publishing
You can have a great wildlife habitat, beautiful woods, and income from timber all in the same woodlot by applying the principles of sustainable forestry. We'll talk about how different trees need different treatment, what wildlife needs to thrive, how to tell healthy from unhealthy trees, and how with a notebook, chainsaw, some professional advice and a few other items you can make it all happen in your own woods.

Electric Fencing Essentials
Ann Larkin Hansen - Storey Publishing
Learn how to plan, build and maintain an electric fence. We'll cover how to pick the right size and type of energizer; correctly install the grounding system and hook up the fence; lay out fencelines, corners and gates; and pick the posts and wire appropriate to the animals you're trying to control or the plants you're trying to protect.

Beautiful and Abundant: The MOTHER EARTH NEWS community and its vision for the future
Bryan Welch - Ogden Publications
MOTHER EARTH NEWS' positive message brings together a community of working visionaries. In his award-winning book, Beautiful and Abundant: Building the World We Want, MOTHER EARTH NEWS publisher Bryan Welch explores the power of human visualization and offers an engaging and practical method for building a collective vision of human sustainability one person – and one endeavor – at a time.

Financing Our Foodshed: Growing local food with slow money
Carol Peppe Hewitt - Slow Money N.C.
Carol Peppe Hewitt will share a sampling of the caring and compelling, real-life stories about Slow Money entrepreneurs – the people who grow, process, distribute and sell local food – and the folks in their communities who become their lenders. Her session will both inspire and instruct anyone interested in putting community capital to work strengthening and building resilience in their local foodshed.

Earth, Straw and Wood: Build a mortgage-free natural cottage
Chris McClellan - Natural Building Network
Before the Industrial Revolution our ancestors generally lived in small houses they built for themselves from local earth, stone, straw and wood, mainly because the materials were cheap or free and didn't require a great deal of specialized skill. With a little guidance almost anyone can still build their own home with low-cost natural and scrounged materials for under $10,000 and opt out of the industrial building and mortgage rat race.

Top Bar Hives: It's all about the wax!
Christy Hemenway - New Society Publishers
Top bar hives work to support the natural systems at work inside a beehive. The building of natural beeswax honeycomb is the most important of these systems, integral to the health of these very important bugs! Clean, natural comb helps the bees be healthy without adding toxic pesticides and antibiotics to their environment. Learn how to support bees naturally in top bar hives.

Creating Sustainable Neighborhood
Dan Chiras - New Society Publishers
To create a sustainable future, we need need more than a few solar systems and organic gardens. We need entire neighborhoods actively engaged in creating positive changes. Learn what you and your closest neighbors can do together to create a socially, economically, and environmentally healthy future.

Heat Your Home With Solar Energy
Dan Chiras - New Society Publishers
It may come to a surprise to many that one can heat a home with passive solar. Learn the principles of passive solar design, design guidelines, and how solar can help you create a more comfortable, economical, and energy-efficient home.

Is Solar Electricity Right for You?
Dan Chiras - New Society Publishers
Solar electricity works in all climate zones and prices have never been lower. In this workshop, you'll learn all about solar energy and solar electric systems, including types of systems, components, types of modules, how to size a system, mounting options, financial incentives, and more.

The Renewable Energy Revolution Has Begun
Dan Chiras - New Society Publishers
The renewable energy revolution many of us have been dreaming about and working toward has begun. Costs have plummeted dramatically, making solar and other renewable energy technologies highly cost competitive. The United States and many other countries are well on their way to a renewable energy economy.

Bokashi Composting: One month from kitchen to garden
Daniel Adams - Earthineer
Bokashi composting decreases the amount of time that it takes to finish compost, and it allows you to compost fish, meat and dairy products without special precautions for scavenging or rotting. This workshop will cover composting basics and an intro to bokashi. We'll build a bin and learn how to make the bran.

DIY Solar Panels
Daniel and Don Adams - Earthineer
We all would like to be off the grid, but the costs for solar panels are prohibitive ... or are they? Follow Dan and Don Adams through their latest project: building solar panels! They'll discuss the steps they took, the decisions they made, and how they trimmed thousands off the price by building their own.

Permaculture: Design for regeneration
Darrell Frey - New Society Publishers
Take a close look at the application of permaculture design to several projects, including Three Sisters Farm, a small-scale market garden; the redesign of a historic urban building in Pittsburgh, Pa.; and a suburban home landscape.

Bioshelter Design and Management
Darrell Frey - New Society Publishers
Discover the details of the design and management of an ecologically managed solar greenhouse. Darrel Frey draws on 25 years of experience growing crops for market year-round in an integrated agricultural ecosystem.

Virtual Medicine Walk
Dawn Combs - Mockingbird Meadows
Want access to free, nutrient-dense food and medicine? Don’t have a tiller, or time to carry water? Get to know the weeds that are all around us! Nutrition and medicine are everywhere, from city to farmland. Come on a virtual tour and learn to identify these important, hardy allies.

Growing Your Health Independence
Dawn Combs - Mockingbird Meadows
Knowing basic plants and techniques for home health care or first aid gets more important every day. Relying solely on Western medicine can take away your independence and your financial security. Learn the basics and how to wisely use all your options.

Herbal Balance
Dawn Combs - Mockingbird Meadows
In today’s society it is easy to get our hormones out of balance, which can cause issues such as infertility, insomnia, imbalanced cycles, weight gain and menopausal symptoms. Learn about the natural strategies and herbal allies that are available to help attain balance.

Ecothrifty Bread
Deborah Niemann - New Society Publishers
Does bread scare you? It doesn't have to! Bread is not hard to make, and you only need three recipes to make almost every yeast bread imaginable from a simple, crusty French bread to pizza to decadent cinnamon rolls. Save hundreds of dollars a year and impress your friends by making your own hot, fresh bread!

Ecothrifty Living
Deborah Niemann - New Society Publishers
Make greener, healthier choices while saving money. You'll be surprised to discover all the artificial chemicals hiding in your home, food and personal care products, but you can easily replace them with natural alternatives that cost far less!

Raising Goats Naturally for Milk, Meat and More
Deborah Niemann - New Society Publishers
Learn to raise dairy goats naturally to produce your own milk, meat, cheese, soap and more. We'll discuss how to follow nature's example and let moms raise their own babies to have healthier goats that produce more milk and meat.

America, Wake Up: The food rights battle is on!
Elizabeth Gamsky Rich - Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund
The regulatory climate is the biggest obstacle to the success of small farmers and artisan food producers in marketing their products directly to consumers. Learn what the legal roadblocks are to the growth of the local food movement and what is being done to remove them.

Rabbit Husbandry: Keep it hopping
Eric and Callene Rapp - The Rare Hare Barn
Learn about the challenges and joys of raising heritage breed rabbits.

Why Standard Breed Birds?
Frank Reese Jr. - Good Shepherd Turkey Ranch
Discover the history, breeding and development of heritage poultry in the United States. Frank Reese will tell his story of 60 years of working with standard breed poultry (often called "heritage poultry" today). Learn why it matters to the future of poultry worldwide and why we should be concerned about the genetic preservation of standard breed poultry.

Quick and Simple Cheeses
Gianaclis Caldwell - Pholia Farm Creamery
Learn how to quickly turn milk into several types of delicious homemade cheeses. In this workshop, cheesemaker and author Gianaclis Caldwell will show you how to make several easy cheeses at home, even from store-bought milk.

Yogurt: Marvels and making
Gianaclis Caldwell - Pholia Farm Creamery
If there ever was a food worthy of the title "superfood," it might just be yogurt. In this class you'll learn how to make several styles of healthy, simple, heritage yogurts. And you'll also learn of the latest research showing yogurt's health benefits, from boosting the immune system to enhancing mood.

Living the Dream: Building a small cheese dairy
Gianaclis Caldwell - Pholia Farm Creamery
Spend a virtual day-in-the life of a small, farm-based cheesemaker and learn some of some of the challenges and rewards that the small-scale, sustainable dairy farmer encounters. Decide for yourself if this life is for you!

Extending the Harvest
Ira Wallace - Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Learn how cool season vegetable gardening in the spring and fall can be just as prolific as in the heart of growing season. Explore growing techniques and suggestions for extending your vegetable gardening season.

Seed Starting Simplified
Ira Wallace - Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Learn simple techniques and timing for starting vegetable and herb seeds indoors, transplanting, growing on, and hardening off the young plants. Learn time tables for planting vegetables directly from seed, and find out how you can extend your season with repeat or succession plantings.

Growing Great Garlic
Ira Wallace - Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Learn about heirloom garlic and perennial onion varieties from planting to cultivation and harvesting at home. Sample these tasty and hardy perennials raw and roasted.

Make a MAX 100-MPG Sports Car
Jack McCornack - Kinetic Vehicles
Learn how to build your own MAX (Mother's Automotive eXperiment) and other high-efficiency cars and trucks. Focus on streamlining, weight reduction and "right sizing" the power plant to the vehicle's task, whether it's commuting to work or carrying produce to your local farmers market. This workshop will be followed by a Q&A session.

Talking Turkey, Part 1
Jeannette Beranger - American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
Heritage turkeys have made a remarkable comeback onto the American table, and they offer a great niche opportunity for farmers. Join us to learn the basics of breed selection, sourcing poults, and husbandry for turkeys being raised for the holiday market.

Talking Turkey, Part 2
Jeannette Beranger - American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
So you want to take it to the next level with heritage turkeys? With the increasing popularity in these birds, there is a great need for new breeders. In part two of ALBC's turkey series, you will learn the basics of breeding turkeys, including husbandry, how to select breeders and productivity.

The Principles of Pigs
Jeannette Beranger - American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
Heritage hogs are one of the fastest growing niche markets for small-scale farmers. Join us to learn about breed selection and husbandry basics for keeping these remarkable animals on your farm, and explore how processing and marketing will be key to your total success.

Free-Range Chicken Gardens: What the cluck?!
Jessi Bloom - Timber Press
Come learn the basics of how to integrate chickens into your garden, starting with chicken raising mythbusters. Design a habitat that will benefit both you and them. Jessi Bloom, the author of Free-Range Chicken Gardens, will also share her favorite top 10 chicken garden plants.

Easy Peasy Edibles: Plant once and enjoy the harvest for years
Jessi Bloom - Timber Press
Join landscape designer Jessi Bloom in a talk about her favorite low-maintenance edibles for the Pacific Northwest – all perennials and superfoods! Plant them once and enjoy the harvest for years to come, plus arrange them beautifully for a gorgeous edible landscape.

Fearless Pressure Cooking: The new fast food
Jill Nussinow - The Veggie Queen
Do you want great food fast? Are you afraid of using a pressure cooker because it might blow up? Fear not: Jill Nussinow, the Veggie Queen, has successfully taught pressure cooking for more than 15 years. Taste explosions are all you'll get. Cook the pressure cooker way to save energy, money and your health.

Don't Be Scared, Be Strange
Joel Salatin - Polyface Farms
Turning your part-time farm enterprise into a bona fide full-time business can be a fearful proposition. What about land, working with people, managing a business, regulations and strategic planning? Using his own Polyface Farms experience as an object lesson, Salatin will address these concerns head-on with humor and encouragement. You'll come away ready to pursue an agrarian farm business.

Live Poultry Processing Demo
Joel Salatin - Polyface Farms and David Schafer - Featherman Equipment
Learn everything you need to know about chicken slaughtering from experts Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms and David Schafer of Featherman Equipment, including handling, bleeding, scalding, plucking and eviscerating. Honor the bird and hone your stewardship skills in this live, hands-on demonstration.

Powering Your Homestead With Renewable Energy
John Ivanko - Inn Serendipity Farm and B&B
Whether you want to go off grid or supply it with renewable energy and make energy a positive cash flow for your business or homestead, explore your many options to power up with renewable energy. Discover wind, solar electric, solar thermal, geothermal, wood heating and other aspects of sustainable living.

Sustainable Living Simplified
John Ivanko and Lisa Kivirist - Inn Serendipity Farm and B&B
Break free of fossil fuels. End the mortgage. Be your own boss. Grow most of your own food and prepare it in your farmstead kitchen. Craft your version of "the good life" that's based on self-reliance and interconnected systems that address food, energy, nature and finances. Explore our journey, so you can, too.

Introduction to Oxen
John Morgan
This workshop is a broad introduction to oxen, covering their historical significance and current usefulness as draft animals, as well as equipment and training.

The GMO Food Threat and What You can Do About It
Ken Roseboro - The Organic and Non-GMO Report
Genetically modified foods pose threats to human health and the environment yet these foods are widespread in the U.S. food supply. Roseboro will give an overview of GM foods and their risks, and will provide practical steps you can take to avoid them and support non-GMO food production.

See Jane Grow: How women are transforming food
Lisa Kivirist - Inn Serendipity Farm and B&B
Women are launching farms and food-based enterprises in record numbers. From farmers to innkeepers, from writers to jam-making entrepreneurs, come hear the inspiring stories and experiences of women homesteaders crafting careers that prioritize healthy food, family and local community and build your own idea bank.

Farmstead Chef: Organic eating on a dime
Lisa Kivirist - Inn Serendipity Farm and B&B
What’s the key ingredient to eating healthy, saving money and stewarding the planet? A return to our nation’s farmstead roots of independence, self-sufficiency and frugality. Learn simple, creative tips for rethinking household food budgets, from preserving the homegrown harvest to stocking the kitchen pantry.

The Healing Herb Garden: Easy-to-grow native plants for optimal health
Lori Trojan - Granny Good's Naturals
Discover the medicinal properties of native healing herbs that thrive in the Prairieland. Learn the need-to-know basics about growing and using these garden must-haves.

Creating Salves and Balms: Home remedies made simple
Lori Trojan - Granny Good's Naturals
Learn to craft natural herbal home remedies for yourself and your family using simple ingredients in this demonstration workshop.

Small Stories, Big Changes
Lyle Estill - New Society Publishers
Lyle Estill's journey into the sustainability movement began with biodiesel, and has led him into adventures in hydroponics, aquaponics, bio products, vermiculture, solar double cropping and more. Come hear his tales of community resilience and of how his small Southern town has worked to feed, fuel and finance itself.

Soapmaking 101
Mary Jane Toth - Hoegger Supply
Not only is soapmaking a fun project for the whole family, but it is also very practical. Mary Jane Toth will share her tips and tricks for soapmaking and will show you just how fun and easy making your own soap can be.

Learn How to Make Feta Cheese
Mary Jane Toth - Hoegger Supply
Learn how to make your own delicious feta cheese with Mary Jane Toth, author of A Cheesemaker's Journey. Toth has been teaching cheesemaking for more than 30 years and will show you how easy and fun making feta can be. This is the perfect introduction for anyone interested in making cheese.

Learn How to Make Soft Cheese
Mary Jane Toth - Hoegger Supply
Learn how to make a wonderful, French-style soft cheese with Mary Jane Toth, author of A Cheesemaker's Journey. Toth has been teaching cheesemaking for more than 30 years and will show you how easy, fun and delicious making cheese at home can be. This is the perfect cheese for people new to cheesemaking.

Quick Mozzarella
Mary Jane Toth - Hoegger Supply
Learn how to make your own delicious mozzarella cheese with the author of A Cheesemaker's Journey. Toth has been teaching cheesemaking for more than 30 years and will show you how easy and fun making mozzarella can be. This is the perfect introduction for anyone interested in making cheese.

Beginning Beekeeping
Matt Reed - Bee Thinking
Learn about getting started in beekeeping using natural beekeeping methods, including the use of top bar and Warré hives.

Primary Poultry Health Care
Patricia Foreman - Gossamer Foundation
Learn the essentials of preventative disease management that utilizes proactive care to keep your flock healthy, including considerations for housing, air quality, feed, water and special challenges that you might face with your flock. Learn what you need to know to avoid most veterinary bills.

Small Farm, Big Exposure: Inexpensive marketing solutions
Ryan Walker - American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
Having a small farm and small budget doesn't mean you're restricted to a small customer base. Learn how to effectively market your animals and products, tell your story, and grow your farm fan base without wasting time or money – and have fun doing it!

Creating an Allergy- and Toxin-Free Home
Shaylee Oleson - Eco Shaylee
This revealing talk covers the "6 Elements" in your home where you'll find allergens and toxins lurking. These common culprits can cause many health issues, but easy solutions exist for correcting the problem!

Put ‘Em Up! Make and preserve gastrique
Sherri Brooks Vinton - Storey Publishing
Sherri Brooks Vinton, author of Put ‘Em Up! and Put ‘Em Up! Fruit, will demonstrate how to make and can a fun, flavorful vinegar-based sauce. Learn how to make gastrique, a delicious way to preserve the flavors of the fruit harvest. Then Vinton will walk the audience through the Boiling Water Method, the basic method that you can use to can your jams, jellies, sauces and pickles, and which you can use to preserve the gastrique and more.

Use Up What You Put Up! Cooking with preserves
Sherri Brooks Vinton - Storey Publishing
Sherri Brooks Vinton, author of Put ‘Em Up! and Put ‘Em Up! Fruit, continues with the second half of this two-part demonstration, revealing how to use fruit-flavored gastrique (or any jam that you might have on hand) to create a delicious pan gravy. Looking for a new use for your preserved fruits? Come to this session to talk about different ways to use up what you put up.

Put ‘Em Up! The ways and whys of home food preservation
Sherri Brooks Vinton - Storey Publishing
Can you pickle that? Or can it? Infuse it, dry it, freeze it or ferment it? Join author Sherri Brooks Vinton for a presentation on the many different ways to preserve your own food. A great session for experienced preservers looking for new ideas as well as anyone who has been thinking about doing a little preserving but doesn’t know where to jump in.

Turkeys Aren't Chickens: The basics of keeping turkeys
Victoria Miller - New Society Publishers
Turkeys have quirky personalities and can be a lot of fun to raise, but it's important to know some basics before you start. Victoria Miller will discuss reasons for raising turkeys, breed considerations, predator concerns, housing and nutritional needs, and more. There will be plenty of question-and-answer time as well.

Everybody Duck! The basics of raising ducks
Victoria Miller - New Society Publishers
Ducks have a lot of personality and can be surprisingly easy to care for. This presentation will cover choosing a breed, housing for ducks, feed considerations, predator issues and more. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion, photos of ducks on our farm, and a handout.

Food Gardening for Life: No money required
Wayne Burleson - Gardening for Life
Learn how to stop your "yeah, buts" in growing your own food: It's too cold, too late, too early, poor soil, no yard, black thumbs, no time – the list goes on and on. After traveling the Earth, teaching people that tiny gardens can return a huge portion of sustainability by providing a dependable source of food, Wayne Burleson and his wife, Connie, have tested several new ways that break those "yeah, buts."

New Ways to Feed the World
Wayne Burleson - Gardening for Life
Wayne Burleson outlines food gardens that never give up, producing healthy food year-round anywhere in the world with amazing results. For example, one 4-by-40-foot garden can produce $1,440 worth of lettuce in 40 days; one 8-foot diameter garden can produce 220 pounds of squash, potatoes and cucumbers; and one small raised bed can produce 1,000 carrots in three years. Learn to use soils that work hard for you.

Creating Soils That Work for You
Wayne Burleson - Gardening for Life
Learn how to grow your own fertilizers with a hands-on demo of 12-day compost. People constantly throw away valuable resources that could be converted into "black gold soil." This soil-based, clean and highly diverse compost attracts free workers: earthworms. View several ways to make your soils work for you, instead of you working the soil. Great soil = great gardens = great people.

Slow Money: Investing as if food, farms and fertility matter
Woody Tasch - Slow Money
What began with a book and a set of ideas four years ago has blossomed into a network of investors, philanthropists, farmers, entrepreneurs, and everyday folks who are concerned about where their food comes from and where their money goes. More than $21 million has been invested directly in more than 180 small food enterprises through the Slow Money network, both nationally and through 17 local chapters. Come learn how these millions of small acts can rebuild our economy from the ground up.

Meat Goats Are Great
Yvonne Zweede-Tucker - Smoke Ridge
For the health of your land, the lightness of your spirits, or on a plate, meat goats are great. Happily converting unwanted forage such as thistles, weeds and brush to a delicious, healthy meat, they are fun and simple to raise. Sustenance and safety are what the goats need to thrive. The demand for goat meat, called chevon or cabrito, exceeds supply and continues to grow.

Workshops/Speakers: Lawrence, Kansas

October 12-13, 2013